CN102906689B - Organize social event information on the site - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method for organizing social activity information on a website is disclosed. The system includes a feed service module and a presentation module. The feed service module is configured to receive social activity of at least one first user from at least one third-party source. The feed service module aggregates the social activity information to form aggregated social activity information. The presentation module is communicatively coupled to the feed service module and configured to receive the aggregated social activity information from the feed service module. The presentation module generates a feed display associated with the aggregated social activity information and sends the feed display to a client for display to a second user.

Description

Organize social event information on the site

cross reference

This application claims priority from the following US Provisional Patent Application, which is hereby incorporated by reference: Serial No. 61/316,828, filed March 23, 2010 and entitled "SOCIALFEED FOR VIDEO SITE."

technical field

The present invention relates to a system and method for providing video over a network. In particular, the invention relates to organizing social activity information on a site.

Background technique

Sharing video content on websites has grown into a worldwide phenomenon, supported by hundreds of thousands of websites. Video hosting sites such as YOUTUBE ^(TM) currently have millions of users and tens of millions of videos. A user of a video hosting site may be interested in his/her friends' activities (eg, watching videos, uploading videos, etc.) so that he/she can determine videos to watch based at least in part on his/her friends' activities. Existing systems for recommending videos based on friend activity have a number of problems.

A first problem with existing solutions is that they do not present friends' activities in an organized and useful manner. For example, if a user has 200 friends and each friend watches 5 videos in a day (for a total of 1000 videos watched by the user's friends), it is difficult to present the 1000 activities to the user in a meaningful way. This problem is further hampered by the limited display space of video hosting sites.

A second problem with existing solutions is that they rely only on friend activity on a single video hosting site when recommending videos to users. If a user's friends are watching videos on multiple websites, the user may miss out on watching as many of the same videos as said user's friends.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention overcome, at least in part, the deficiencies and limitations of the prior art by organizing social activity information on a site. In one embodiment, in one embodiment, a system includes a feed service module and a presentation module. The feed service module is configured to receive at least one first user's social activity from at least one third party source. The feed service module aggregates the social activity information to form aggregated social activity information. The presentation module is communicatively coupled to the feed service module and configured to receive the aggregated social activity information from the feed service module. The presentation module generates a display feed associated with the aggregated social activity information and sends the display feed to a client for display to a second user.

Description of drawings

The invention is shown by way of example and not by way of limitation of the figures in the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements.

Figure 1 is a high-level block diagram illustrating a system for organizing social activity information on a website, according to one embodiment.

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a feed serving module according to one embodiment.

3 is a flowchart of a method of aggregating social activity information based at least in part on public users, according to one embodiment.

4 is a flowchart of a method of aggregating social activity information based at least in part on public video, according to one embodiment.

5 is a flowchart of a method of aggregating social activity information based at least in part on public users and public videos, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of filtering social activity information, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of providing video recommendations to users, according to one embodiment.

Figure 8 is a flowchart of a method of ranking social feedback, according to one embodiment.

Figure 9 depicts a system for organizing social information on a website, according to one embodiment.

10-26 depict screen shots of a graphical user interface generated by a video hosting site, according to one or more embodiments.

Figure 27 depicts a system for organizing social information on a website, according to one embodiment.

Figure 28 depicts a system for organizing social information on a website, according to one embodiment.

29-30 depict screenshots of graphical user interfaces generated by video hosting sites, according to one or more embodiments.

detailed description

Systems and methods for organizing social event information on a website are described below. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the invention. For example, the present invention is described in one embodiment below with reference to a user interface and specific hardware. However, the invention applies to any type of computing device capable of receiving data and commands, as well as peripheral devices that provide services.

"One embodiment" or "an embodiment" referred to in the specification means a specific feature, structure or characteristic described in association with an embodiment included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. The appearances of the phrase "in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

Some portions of the detailed description that follows are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the meanings used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm, here, is generally conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, or manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for purposes of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, from the discussion below, it will be understood that throughout this specification, discussions using terms such as "process" or "calculate" or "calculate" or "determine" or "display" refer to computer systems or The act or process of a computer system or similar electronic computing device that operates and converts data representing physical (electronic) quantities within the registers and memories of the computer system into other data, similarly denoted computer system Physical data in memory or registers.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations of the invention. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such computer programs may be stored on any type of optical disk, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), EPROM, EEPROM, magnetic or Each computer-readable storage medium is coupled to the computer system bus, an optical card, a flash memory including a USB key with non-volatile memory, or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions.

The invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, and the like.

Furthermore, the invention may take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this specification, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be a program that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transmit a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device any device.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the need to retrieve data from bulk storage during execution. The number of times the code was fetched.

Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers.

Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters.

Finally, the algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other device. Various general purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The structure required for each of these systems will be described from the description below. Furthermore, the invention has not been described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that various programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the present invention as described herein.

System Overview

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram illustrating a system 105 for organizing social activity information on a website, according to one embodiment. Examples of websites include, but are not limited to: video hosting sites, online bulletin boards, social networking sites, and video hosting sites integrated with social networking features. The illustrated embodiment of system 105 includes: video hosting site 100 , content provider 118 , client 120 , and third party site 128 . Video hosting site 100 , content provider 118 , client 120 , and third-party site 128 are communicatively coupled via network 122 . For example, video hosting site 100, content provider 118, third-party site 128, and client 120 are communicatively coupled via network 122 to facilitate exchange of information (e.g., video content) between users of client devices similar to client 120. shared. Although only one content provider 118, one client 120, and one third-party site 128 are shown, those skilled in the art will recognize that any number of content providers 118, clients 120, and third-party sites 128 can Communicatively coupled to network 122 . Furthermore, although only one network 122 is coupled to third party site 128, client 120, content provider 118, and video hosting site 100, those skilled in the art will understand that any number of networks 122 can be connected to third party site 128, Client 120 and Video Hosting Site 100.

Network 122 is a conventional type of network (wired or wireless) and may have any number of configurations, such as a star configuration, a token ring configuration, or other configurations known to those skilled in the art. In one embodiment, network 122 includes one or more local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) (eg, the Internet), and/or any other interconnected data pathways across which multiple devices communicate. In another embodiment, network 122 is a peer-to-peer network. In one embodiment, network 122 is coupled to or includes a portion of a communications network for transmitting data in accordance with various communications protocols. For example, the network is a 3G network or a 4G network. In yet another embodiment, the network 122 includes a Bluetooth communication network or a cellular communication network to send and receive data via: Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Direct data connections, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), email, and more. In yet another embodiment, all or some links within network 122 are encrypted using conventional encryption techniques such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Secure HTTP, and/or Virtual Private Network (VPN).

In the illustrated embodiment, network 122 is communicatively coupled to video hosting site 100 via signal line 107 . Network 122 is communicatively coupled to content provider 118 via signal line 101 . Network 122 is communicatively coupled to client 120 via signal line 103 . Network 122 is communicatively coupled to third party site 128 via signal line 105 .

Third-party site 128 is any website that can be accessed by a user of a client device, such as client 120 . For example, third-party site 128 is a social networking site, a third-party video hosting site, a video hosting site integrated with social networking features, an online bulletin board, and the like. In one embodiment, third party site 128 is an optional feature of system 105 .

Video hosting site 100 is any system that allows users to access video content via a search and/or browsing interface. An example of a video hosting site 100 is the YOUTUBE ^™ website found at www.youtube.com. Other video hosting sites are also known and adapted to operate in accordance with the teachings disclosed herein. It will be understood that the term "website" means any computer system adapted to serve content using any Internet working protocol, and is not intended to be limited to content uploaded or downloaded via the Internet or the HTTP protocol.

In one embodiment, the source of the video content on the video hosting site 100 is from user uploaded videos, searches or jogs of other websites or databases of videos, etc., or any combination thereof. For example, in one embodiment, video hosting site 100 is configured to allow users to upload video content. In another embodiment, the video hosting site 100 is configured to obtain videos from other sources by crawling such sources or searching such sources in real-time.

To simplify and clarify the present invention, the video content received and shared by the video hosting site 100 will be referred to as video, video file or video item. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that video hosting site 100 is capable of receiving and sharing content of any media type and file type. For example, video hosting site 100 shares content such as video, audio, a combination of video and audio, images such as JPEG or GIF files and/or text files, and the like.

Video hosting site 100 is communicatively coupled to network 122 . In the illustrated embodiment, video hosting site 100 includes: front end interface 102, video service module 104, video search module 106, upload server 108, presentation module 110, fingerprint generator 112, user database 114, video database 116, feedback Service module 124 and feedback database 126 . The components of video hosting site 100 are communicatively coupled to each other. Other conventional features such as firewalls, load balancing, authentication servers, application servers, failover servers, site management tools, etc. are not shown so as not to obscure the characteristics of the system. In one embodiment, the illustrated components of video hosting site 100 are implemented as a single piece of software or hardware or as multiple pieces of software or hardware. Generally, a function described as being performed by one component in one embodiment can also be performed by other components in other embodiments, or performed by a combination of components. Furthermore, functionality described in one embodiment as being performed by components of video hosting site 100 is performed in other embodiments by one or more clients 120 or content providers 118, as appropriate. In one embodiment, the functionality attributed to a particular component is performed by different or multiple components operating together.

Each of the various servers and modules on video hosting site 100 is implemented as a server program executing on a server-grade computer that includes one or more central processing units ("CPUs" or "Multiple CPUs" below), memory, network interfaces, peripheral interfaces, and other known components. In one embodiment, the computer itself allows running an open source operating system such as LINUX, has one or more CPUs, a gigabyte or more of memory, and a hundred billion or more optical disc storage. In one embodiment, other types of computers are used, and it is anticipated that more powerful computers will be developed in the future, configured according to the teachings disclosed herein. In another embodiment, the functionality implemented by any element is provided according to a computer program product stored on one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media (e.g., random access memory (“RAM”), flash memory, solid-state drive (“SSD”), hard disk drive, optical/magnetic media, etc.).

Front-end interface 102 is an interface that handles providing communications with content providers 118 and/or clients 120 via network 122 . For example, front-end interface 102 receives uploaded video files from content provider 118 and transfers the video files to upload server 108 . In one embodiment, front-end interface 102 receives requests from users of client 120 and passes the requests to other components of video hosting site 100 (eg, video search module 106, video service module 104, etc.). For example, the front end interface 102 receives a video search query from a user and sends the video search query to the video search module 106 .

The upload server 108 receives video files from the content provider 118 via the front-end interface 102 . In one embodiment, upload server 108 processes the video files and stores the video files in video database 116 . For example, the upload server 108 assigns a video identification (video ID) to the video, and stores the video and the video ID in the video database 116 . Another example of video files processed by upload server 108 includes performing one or more of: formatting, compression, metadata tagging, and content analysis, among others.

Video database 116 is a storage system used to store video files shared by video hosting site 100 with users. In one embodiment, video database 116 stores video files processed by upload server 108 . In another embodiment, video database 116 stores metadata for video files. For example, video database 116 stores one or more of the following: title, description, tag information, and administrative rights for video files. Management rights for video files include one or more of the following: rights to delete video files, rights to edit information about video files, and rights to associate video files with advertisements, among others. In one embodiment, some or all of the video file's metadata is provided by the content provider 118 . For example, the content provider 118 provides a title and a short description of the video when uploading the video to the video hosting site 100 .

Video search module 106 is the code and routines that, when executed by a processor (not shown), process any search query received by front end interface 102 from a user. Search queries from users include search criteria such as keywords, for example, to identify videos that the user is interested in watching. In one embodiment, the video search module 106 uses search criteria to query metadata of video files stored in the video database 116 , and returns search results to the user via the front-end interface 102 . For example, if a user provides a keyword search query to the video search module 106 via the front-end interface 102, the video search module 106 identifies videos stored in the video database 116 that match the keyword, and returns search results to the user via the front-end interface 102 (e.g. video ID, title, description, thumbnail of the identified video).

Video service module 104 is the code and routines that, when executed by a processor (not shown), process video requests and serve video to users. For example, video service module 104 receives a request from a user to view a video, retrieves the video from video database 116 based at least in part on the request, and presents the video to the user via front-end interface 102 .

In one embodiment, the video service module 104 receives a request from a user to access a video when the user clicks on a link to the video. The request received from the user includes the video ID of the video. In one embodiment, once the user clicks on the link for the video, the video ID is automatically included in the request. The video service module 104 uses the video ID to search and locate videos in the video database 116 . Once the requested video is located, the video service module 104 sends the video to the user via the front end interface 102 . In one embodiment, the video is presented to the user on a web browser. Metadata associated with the video, such as the video's title and description, is also presented to the user. In one embodiment, after sending the video to the user, the video service module 104 stores the video ID of the video in the user database 114 so as to store the user's video viewing history in the user database 114 .

User database 114 is a storage system for storing data and/or information associated with any user. For example, the user database 114 stores video IDs of video files uploaded by users so as to maintain the user's video upload history in the user database 114 . The user database 114 also stores video IDs of video files that the user has accessed from the video database 116 for viewing, so that the user's video viewing history is stored in the user database 114 . In one embodiment, the user is identified by using a unique username and password and/or by using the user's Internet Protocol address.

Thumbnail generator 112 is code and routines that generate thumbnails for videos. Thumbnails are images that represent videos on the video hosting site 100 . For example, the thumbnail generator 112 analyzes the video and selects a frame from the video as a thumbnail. In one embodiment, thumbnail generator 112 provides one or more images for a video and allows a publisher (eg, a user who uploaded a video) to select an image as a thumbnail.

Feedback database 126 is a storage system that stores data needed to generate user feedback. User feedback is described in more detail below with reference to the feedback service module 124 . The data stored in the feedback database 126 includes social feedback. Social feeds are data describing one or more activities performed by one or more users on video hosting site 100 and/or third-party sites 128 . In one embodiment, social feedback is processed by the feedback service module 124 and/or one or more modules stored on the front end interface 102 to generate user feedback. In one embodiment, social feedback is data feedback that includes descriptions of activities performed by one or more users on video hosting site 100, and activities performed by one or more users on third-party sites 128 (eg, social networking sites, third-party video hosting sites, video hosting sites integrated with social networking features, online bulletin boards, etc.). In one embodiment, the feedback database 126 stores all or a subset of social feedback.

Activities are actions taken on the video hosting site 100 and/or third party website 128 . Examples of activities include: watching a video, commenting on a video, sharing a video on a third-party site 128, rating a video, marking a video as a favorite, marking a video as a favorite, uploading a video, subscribing to a video channel, adding to a playlist videos, manage playlists, edit profile information and/or manage private settings, etc. In one embodiment, an activity performed by a user is associated with user input. For example, if a user watches a video by clicking a "play" button, user input for the activity "watch video" is received by the video hosting site 100 .

In one embodiment, the social feed includes a description of one or more all onsite activities that have been performed on the video hosting site 100 . In one embodiment, video hosting site 100 only collects this information with the user's permission and uses any collected information in accordance with the permission given by the user. For example, where the user has given video hosting site 100 permission to do so, video hosting site 100 will only make recommendations to the user's friends based on the user's information. A live event is any activity performed by a user at the video hosting site 100 . For example, a social feed includes one or more of: uploading a video on the video hosting site 100; viewing a video on the video hosting site 100; marking a video as a favorite video on the video hosting site 100, and so on. In one embodiment, the social feed includes descriptions of a subset of live activities that one or more users have performed on the video hosting site 100 .

In another embodiment, the social feed includes a description of all offsite activities that one or more users have performed on a third party site, such as third party site 128 . In one embodiment, video hosting site 100 only collects this information with the user's permission. Off-site activities are activities performed on third-party sites 128 . For example, if a user links his/her account at the video hosting site 100 to his/her account at the third party site 128 and allows the video hosting site 100 to monitor his/her activity on the active third party site 128, All his/her activity on the third party site 128 is then collected by the video hosting site 100 and included in the social feed. In one embodiment, the social feed includes descriptions of a subset of off-site activities that one or more users have performed on the third-party site 128 .

In yet another embodiment, the social feed includes descriptions of all live and off-site activities of one or more users. In one embodiment, video hosting site 100 only collects this information with the user's permission. In one embodiment, the social feed includes descriptions of a subset of live activities that one or more users have performed on video hosting site 100, and/or a description of what one or more users have performed on third-party site 128. A description of a subset of off-site activities.

Feed service module 124 is code and routines that handle activities performed on video hosting site 100 and/or third party sites 128 . For example, the feed service module 124 monitors the activity performed on the video hosting site 100 and/or the third party site 128 in real time and processes the activity in real time. In one embodiment, the feed service module 124 retrieves activity from social feeds stored in the feed database 126 . In another embodiment, the feed service module 124 retrieves the campaigns in real time. For example, feed service module 124 monitors activity on video hosting site 100 and/or third party sites 128 in real time. Feed service module 124 stores descriptions of real-time activity for later use as part of a social feed in feed database 126 .

In one embodiment, feed service module 124 receives one or more user inputs for one or more activities performed on video hosting site 100 and/or third party site 128 . The one or more user inputs are associated with social activity information describing one or more activities. The feed service module 124 aggregates social activity information based at least in part on the one or more user inputs to generate aggregated social activity information as an output and provides the aggregated social activity information to the user. In another embodiment, the feed service module 124 filters the social activity information based at least in part on the one or more user inputs, and generates as output the filtered social activity information. The feed service module 124 provides filtered social activity information to users. In yet another embodiment, the feed service module 124 determines video recommendations based at least in part on one or more user inputs. The feed service module 124 provides video recommendations to users. Video recommendations are videos that are recommended to users. For example, the feed service module 124 recommends videos to the user based at least in part on the user's viewing history. In yet another embodiment, the feed service module 124 ranks the social feed including one or more activities and forms a ranked feed as output. The feed service module 124 provides the ordered feed to the user.

In one embodiment, the feed service module 124 is configured to retrieve social feeds from the feed database 126, process the social feeds and form user feeds as an output of processing the social feeds. For example, feed service module 124 receives one or more activities included in a social feed and processes the one or more activities to form a user feed. A user feed is a feed of data and/or information resulting from processing a social feed. In one embodiment, the user feed includes one or more of: aggregated social activity information, filtered social activity information, video recommendations, and ranked feeds. In one embodiment, user feeds are stored in a feed database 126 . The feed service module 124 is described in further detail below with reference to FIG. 2 .

Presentation module 110 is the code and routines that, when executed by a processor (not shown), present any information intended for a user to a corresponding client device, such as client 120 . For example, presentation module 110 generates graphics associated with the information and sends the graphics to a web browser (not shown) installed in client 120 via front-end interface 102 and network 122 . In one embodiment, information intended for users includes user feeds. In another embodiment, the information intended for the user includes a subset of user feeds. For example, information intended for the user includes one or more of: aggregated social activity information, filtered social activity information, video recommendations, and ranked feeds.

A content provider 118 is any device that provides video files to video hosting site 100 . For example, content provider 118 is a computing device used to upload video files to video hosting site 100 . Content provider 118 is communicatively coupled to network 122 . In one embodiment, the content provider 118 is also the client 120 . In another embodiment, content provider 118 is the same entity that operates video hosting site 100 .

In one embodiment, content provider 118 is configured to be operated by a user to perform various content provider functions. Examples of content provider functions include, but are not limited to: uploading videos to video hosting site 100; editing videos stored by video hosting site 100; removing videos from video hosting site 100 and editing content provider preferences associated with videos.

Client 120 is any processor-based computing device. The client 120 stores and executes client software such as a web browser, and uses the client software to connect to the video hosting site 100 via the network 122 . In one embodiment, clients 120 include a variety of different computing devices. Examples of clients 120 include, but are not limited to, personal computers, personal digital assistants, television setup boxes, tablet computers, smartphones, and laptops. Client 120 includes one or more processors (not shown), memory (not shown), and other components customary to computing devices. In one embodiment, client 120 is communicatively coupled to network 122 .

In one embodiment, client 120 is configured as content provider 118 to provide video files to video hosting site 100 . In another embodiment, client 120 is configured to watch videos provided by video hosting site 100 . For example, client 120 includes an embedded video player (e.g., Flash ^™ player from Adobe Systems, Inc.) suitable for the video file format used in video hosting site 100, so that users can use the embedded video player in client 120. The video player watches videos from the video hosting site 100 .

Front-end interface 102, video service module 104, video search module 106, upload server 108, presentation module 110, thumbnail generator 112, user database 114, video database 116, feed service module 124 and feed database 126 via one or more The signal lines are communicatively coupled to each other. In one embodiment, front-end interface 102, video service module 104, video search module 106, upload server 108, rendering module 110, thumbnail generator 112, user database 114, video database 116, feed service module 124, and feed database 126 are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus (not shown).

Feed service module

Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a feed service module according to one embodiment. In the illustrated embodiment, the feed service module 124 includes an aggregation module 202 , a filter module 204 , a recommendation module 206 , a feed ranking module 208 , and an activity monitor module 210 . Here, aggregation module 202, filter module 204, recommendation module 206, and feed ranking module 208 are depicted by rectangles formed by dashed lines to indicate that, in one embodiment, one or more of aggregation module 202, filter module 204, The recommendation module 206 and the feed ranking module 208 are included within the feed service module 124; while in another embodiment, one or more of the aggregation module 202, the filter module 204, the recommendation module 206 and the feed ranking module 208 are included Inside the front-end interface 102 . For example, in one embodiment, aggregation module 202 and filter module 204 are included within feed service module 124 , while recommendation module 206 and feed ranking module 208 are included within front-end interface 102 .

Feed service module 124 is communicatively coupled to front end interface 102 via signal line 201 . For example, in one embodiment of the feed, the feed service module 124 sends the user feed to the front-end interface 102 via the signal line 201, and the front-end interface 102 passes the user feed to the client 120 via the network 122 described above with reference to FIG. 1 . Feed service module 124 is also coupled to video database 116 via signal line 203 , to user database 114 via signal line 205 , and to feed database 126 via signal line 207 . For example, feed service module 124 retrieves information describing the social feed from feed database 126 via signal line 207, generates information describing the user feed based at least in part on the information describing the social feed, and stores the information describing the user feed via signal line 207 in Feeds on database 126. In one embodiment, the feed service module 124 retrieves the user's video viewing history from the user database 114 via the signal line 205 . For example, the feed service module 124 retrieves the video ID of the video file watched by the user from the user database 114 via the signal line 205 . In another embodiment, the feed service module 124 retrieves the video ID and metadata (eg, title, description, etc. of the video) of the video associated with the video ID from the video database 116 via the signal line 203 . For example, the feed service module 124 retrieves the video ID and metadata associated with the video recommended to the user from the video database 116 via the signal line 203 and sends the video ID and metadata to the presentation module 110 for presentation to the user.

The aggregation module 202 is code and routines that aggregate social activity information. For example, the aggregation module 202 retrieves one or more user inputs for one or more activities, processes the one or more user inputs to aggregate social activity information associated with the one or more user inputs, And aggregated social activity information is generated as output. In one embodiment, aggregation module 202 is communicatively coupled to feed database 126 to retrieve social feeds from feed database 126 via signal line 207 . A social feed includes one or more activities. The one or more activities are activities performed on video hosting site 100 and/or third party site 128 . In one embodiment, instead of retrieving social feeds, the aggregation module retrieves one or more activities from feed database 126 via signal line 207 .

In one embodiment, the one or more activities provide social activity information associated with the user or friends of the user. For example, the one or more activities are activities performed by one or more friends of the first user. In one embodiment, the first user's friend may be any second user of the video hosting site 100 associated with the first user as a friend of the first user. In another embodiment, the first user's friends include any second user connected to the first user's video hosting site 100 via a social graph. For example, if a first user and a second user are associated as friends, and a third user is associated as a friend of the second user, then the third user is also associated as a friend of the first user. In one embodiment, these various friendships are used to generate user feeds and stored in the feed database 126 .

In another embodiment, the one or more activities provide social activity information associated with one or more notable videos on the video hosting site 100 . For example, one or more campaigns describe one or more new comments posted for famous videos. Examples of notable videos include, but are not limited to: most popular videos, frequently favorited videos, featured videos, etc.

A popular video is a video that has been viewed a predetermined number of times, is a video that is trending in popularity on the video hosting website 100 and/or third-party site 128, and/or meets criteria known in the art for determining popularity. Video of any other condition of the video. For example, a popular video is one that has been viewed a million or more times. In another example, popular videos are videos that tend to be popular with the user's friends or members of the user's social profile. The popularity of a video is determined based at least in part on one or more of: a video view count (e.g., the number of times a video is viewed), a video share count (e.g., the number of times a video is shared on one or more third-party sites 128 ), the video's user rating, like count (e.g., the number of liked videos), dislike counts (e.g., the count of disliked videos), and/or comment counts (e.g., the number of comments attached to the video) etc.

A frequently favorited video is a video that has been selected as a "favorite" video by a predetermined number of users; a video that tends to rise in terms of being selected as a "favorite" by the user's friends or members of the user's social profile; and/or Videos that meet any other criteria known in the art for determining popular videos. For example, a frequently favorited video is a video that has been selected as a "favorite" by one million users. In another example, frequently favorited videos are videos that tend to be selected as "favorites" by the user's friends or members of the user's social profile.

A featured video is a video that the administrator of the hosting site 100 has designated as a featured video, and/or meets any other criteria known in the art for determining a featured video. For example, the owner of a video pays and designates the video as a featured video. In other embodiments, featured videos may be determined through a process without payment. In one embodiment, the featured video is a video related to the content of a video currently being viewed by the user of client device 120 (or a friend of the user), or related to one or more recent videos viewed by the user of client device 120. More videos about the video. In one embodiment, the featured videos are videos pulled from a pool of content partner videos stored in the video database 116 . Content partner videos are videos uploaded by content partners. A content partner is a user of a content provider 118 that has a revenue sharing relationship with the owner of the video hosting site 100 . In one embodiment, the featured video is selected for display in the feed based at least in part on the geographic location of the client device 120 .

In one embodiment, the aggregation module 202 is configured to aggregate social activity information describing the social activity information based at least in part on one or more public users associated with the one or more user inputs. one or more activities. The aggregation module 202 determines one or more users for the one or more user inputs. For example, aggregation module 202 determines, based at least in part on all information (or a subset of information) stored in user database 114 and/or all information (or a subset of information) stored in feed database 126, for one or more One or more users entered by multiple users. The aggregation module 202 separates the one or more user inputs into one or more groups such that each group has a common user. The aggregation module 202 aggregates the social activity information for each group entered by the users based at least in part on the common users. Note that in various embodiments, users have opted in to have their activity used as part of the aggregation.

For example, aggregation module 202 receives four user inputs for four campaigns. Each user input is for a different user activity, so that in total there are four user inputs and four activities, each of the four activities being represented by a different one of the four user inputs. The first and second user inputs are provided by a first friend of the first user (eg, the first friend is a user named "Alice"). The third and fourth user inputs are provided by a second friend of the first user (eg, the first friend is a user named "Bob"). The aggregation module 202 divides the four user inputs into two groups based at least in part on the common user, such that the first group includes the first and second user inputs provided by Alice, and the second group includes the third and fourth user inputs provided by Bob. User input. The public user of the first group is Alice. The public user of the second group is Bob. The aggregation module 202 aggregates each group of user inputs individually. For example, if the first group entered by the user describes that Alice uploaded two different videos to the video hosting site 100, the aggregation module 202 aggregates the first group entered by the user as "Alice has uploaded two new videos." A similar aggregation occurs for Bob, eg, "Bob has commented on two videos". The result of this aggregation is: all Alice's activities are aggregated into the first aggregated description (e.g., "Alice has uploaded two videos") and all Bob's activities are aggregated into the second aggregated description (e.g., "Bob already commented on two videos"). In other systems, each activity receives its own description, so instead of four activities described by two aggregate descriptions, four activities are described by four aggregate descriptions. The aggregation described above provides many benefits. For example, since the actions of each public user are aggregated into an aggregated description, the user interface is less cluttered and has more space to describe more users' activities.

In another embodiment, the aggregation module 202 is configured to aggregate the social activity information based at least in part on one or more public videos associated with the one or more user inputs. The aggregation module 202 determines one or more videos associated with the one or more user inputs. For example, based at least in part on all information (or a subset of information) stored in user database 114 and/or all information (or a subset of information) stored in feed database 126, aggregation module 202 determines a or more user input associated with one or more videos. The aggregation module 202 separates the one or more user inputs into one or more groups such that each group is associated with a common video. The aggregation module 202 aggregates the social activity information for each group based at least in part on the public videos associated with each group. For example, aggregation module 202 receives four user inputs for four campaigns. The first and second user inputs are associated with the first video (eg, the first and second user inputs are comments on the first video). The third and fourth user inputs are associated with the second video (eg, the third user input is a comment on the second video and the fourth user input is a "favorite" input for the second video). The aggregation module 202 divides the four user inputs into two groups such that the first group includes the first and second user inputs associated with the first video, and the second group includes the third and fourth user inputs associated with the second video. User input. The aggregation module 202 individually aggregates each group of user inputs based at least in part on the common video. For example, if the first set of descriptions entered by the user describes two new comments (e.g., titled "Charlie Bit MyFinger") for the first video, the aggregation module 202 aggregates the first set of user inputs as "Video" CharlieBit My Finger' has two new comments".

In yet another embodiment, the aggregation module 202 is configured to aggregate social activity information based at least in part on one or more categories associated with the one or more user inputs. Categories include one or more of the following: actions taken on social networking sites, actions taken on online bulletin boards, commenting on videos, uploading videos to video sites, marking videos as favorites, marking videos as Liked video.

In one embodiment, the different categories have predetermined levels of importance stored in the feed database 126, and the aggregation module 202 is configured to aggregate activities based at least in part on the relative importance of the categories to which the activities belong. Specifically, the following list orders categories based at least in part on importance so that the most important categories are listed first and the least important categories are listed last: (1) Actions taken on social networking sites; ( 2) actions taken on online bulletin boards; (3) comment on videos; (3) upload videos to video sites; (4) mark videos as favorites; (5) mark videos as favorites. In one embodiment, feed database 126 stores data indicative of the aforementioned hierarchy. In one embodiment, the importance level of each category is set by the user, so that the user can define a hierarchy of importance for different categories.

In one embodiment, the aggregation module 202 receives one or more user inputs for one or more campaigns with public users and public videos. The aggregation module 202 determines common users and/or common videos for one or more user inputs. For example, the aggregation module 202 determines usernames for public users and video IDs for public videos. The aggregation module 202 classifies the one or more user inputs into one or more groups such that each group of user inputs is associated with a classification. The aggregation module 202 aggregates social activity information based at least in part on one or more categories associated with the one or more groups entered by the user.

In another embodiment, the aggregation module 202 receives three user inputs for three campaigns. The three user inputs are provided by a public user (eg, "Alice") and relate to a public video (eg, titled "Charlie Bit My Finger"). The first user input refers to Alice marking the video "Charlie Bit My Finger" as a favorite video. The second user input refers to Alice sharing the video on the first social networking site. The third user input means that Alice shares the video on the second social networking site. The first user input is associated with the first category of "Mark video as favorite", and the second and third user inputs are associated with the first category of "Action taken on social networking site" (e.g., share video on social networking site). Binary categories are associated. The aggregation module 202 aggregates social activity information associated with the three user inputs based at least in part on the first and second classifications. For example, if the second category has a higher importance level than the first category, the aggregation module 202 aggregates the social activity information for three user inputs as "Alice" has shared the video "Charlie Bit My" on two social networking sites. Finger".

In one embodiment, aggregation module 202 is communicatively coupled to feed database 126 , presentation module 110 and activity monitor module 210 . In one embodiment, aggregation module 202: (1) retrieves social feeds from feed database 126; (2) sends aggregated social activity information to presentation module 110 for presentation to customers; and (3) retrieves social feeds from activity monitor Module 210 receives one or more user inputs for one or more activities. In another embodiment, one or more user inputs for one or more activities are received by the aggregation module 202 in real-time.

Filter module 204 is code and routines for filtering social activity information. For example, filter module 204 is a filter that identifies unique sources of information and organizes social activity information based at least in part on the unique sources. In one embodiment, a unique source is a user with a unique username or a video with a unique video ID. The filter module 204 then generates as output filtered social activity information based at least in part on the organization of the social activity information.

Filter module 204 is communicatively coupled to feed database 126 to receive one or more user inputs for one or more campaigns from feed database 126 . In one embodiment, the one or more user inputs are for activity from social feeds retrieved from the feed database 126 . In another embodiment, the one or more user inputs are for activities monitored by the activity monitor module 210 . The one or more activities may be in real time or may be delayed by any amount of time. The activity monitor module 210 is described in more detail below. In yet another embodiment, the campaign monitoring module 210 is communicatively coupled to the front-end interface 102 to receive from the front-end interface 102 one or more user inputs for one or more campaigns.

The filter module 204 determines one or more first sources for the one or more user inputs. For example, filter module 204 determines a user for each user input. Further examples of first sources include, but are not limited to: videos, video channels, and subscriptions. In one embodiment, the filter module 204 is configured to determine one or more unique sources based on all first sources for the one or more user inputs. For example, the filter module 204 determines one or more unique users as unique sources based on all users entered for all users. If two or more user inputs have a common user, the filter module 204 determines the common user as the sole source for the two or more user inputs. Alternatively, if two or more user inputs are provided by different users, the filter module 204 determines a distinct unique source for the user inputs. For example, if the filter module 204 receives three user inputs, where the first user input is provided by a first user and the second and third user inputs are provided by a second user, then the filter module 204 determines for the three user inputs Two unique sources. The first unique source is the first user and the second unique source is the second user.

In one embodiment, the filter module 204 is configured to filter social activity information based at least in part on one or more unique sources. The filter module 204 determines which portion of the social activity information to present to the client 120 based at least in part on the unique source. For example, the filter module 204 determines to present to the client 120 social activity information associated with a first user input provided by the user without presenting to the client 120 social activity information associated with a second user input provided by the same user information.

In one embodiment, the filter module 204 determines the social activity information to be presented to the client 120 based at least in part on the display constraints. Display restrictions are restrictions on displaying social activity information on the client 120 . For example, display constraints are limitations on the display space available to present social activity information. In one embodiment, the filter module 204 receives input from the client 120 defining display restrictions. In another embodiment, the filter module 204 receives input from an administrator of the video hosting site 100 defining display restrictions.

In one embodiment, the filter module 204 determines a portion of the social activity information associated with a unique source to be displayed on the client 120 and allocates a portion of the display space to display the portion of the social activity information. The filter module 204 then determines whether the display constraints are met. For example, filter module 204 determines whether any portion of the display space is still available for display. If the display constraints are not satisfied, the filter module 204 proceeds to allocate a portion of the available display space to display other portions of social activity information associated with other unique sources. All portions of the social activity information that are determined to be displayed on a client 120 having an allocated display space are referred to as filtered social activity information. If the display constraints are met, filter module 204 sends the filtered social activity information to presentation module 110 for presentation to the user.

In one embodiment, filter module 204 is communicatively coupled to feed database 126 , presentation module 110 and activity monitor module 210 . In one embodiment, filter module 204: (1) retrieves social feeds from feed database 126; (2) sends the filtered social activity information to presentation module 110 for presentation to the user; and (3) retrieves social feeds from feed database 126; One or more activity monitor modules 210 receive one or more activities. In one embodiment, the one or more activities from the activity monitor module 210 are received in real time.

The recommendation module 206 is the code and routines that recommend videos to users on the video hosting site 100 . For example, the recommendation module 206 recommends a collection of videos to the user based at least in part on the user's profile information (such as age, geographic information, interests, demographic information, education/work experience, etc.). The video ID and metadata (eg, title, description, etc.) of the set of videos recommended to the user are retrieved from the database 116 and sent to the presentation module 110 for presentation to the user.

In one embodiment, the recommendation module 206 is configured to determine video recommendations for the first user based on the first user's activity on the video hosting site 100 . For example, the recommendation module 206 recommends videos to the first user based at least in part on the first user's video viewing history. The recommendation module 206 retrieves the video viewing history of the first user from the user database 114 . For example, the recommendation module 206 retrieves the video ID of the video viewed by the first user from the user database 114 and/or retrieves the metadata of the video from the video database 116 . In one embodiment, the recommendation module 206 determines video recommendations for the first user based at least in part on one or more of: videos watched by the first user, videos marked as favorite videos by the first user, videos viewed by Videos marked as liked by the first user, videos viewed by the first user on the third party site 128 , and videos shared by the first user on the third party site 128 .

In another embodiment, the recommendation module 206 is configured to identify video recommendations for the first user based at least in part on activities performed by one or more friends of the first user. As noted above, a friend is a second user associated with the first user as a friend. Friendship associations are stored on video hosting site 100 (eg, feed database 126, user database 114, etc.). The activities include on-site activities and/or off-site activities for one or more friends of the first user. In one embodiment, the on-site and/or off-site activities of one or more friends are tracked and recorded by the video hosting site 100 with the one or more friends' permission. In one embodiment, the recommendation module 206 determines videos to recommend based at least in part on the friend's video viewing history. For example, the recommendation module 206 recommends to the user videos that the user's friends are currently watching on the video hosting site 100 or the third party site 128 . In other embodiments, the recommendation module 206 determines a video recommendation for the first user based at least in part on one or more of: videos that friends have watched in the past on the video hosting site 100 or third-party sites 128; 100 or third-party sites 128, videos watched live by friends on video-hosting sites 100 or third-party sites 128, videos marked as favorites by friends on video-hosting sites 100 or third-party sites 128, friends Videos marked as favorite videos, videos shared by friends on video hosting site 100 or third party site 128 on video hosting site 100 or third party site 128 .

In yet another embodiment, the recommendation module 206 is configured to determine a video recommendation for the first user based at least in part on activities performed by any user on the video hosting site 100 . For example, the overall activity of all users on a video hosting site 100 determines which videos are popular on the video hosting site 100 . In one embodiment, the recommendation module 206 recommends videos to users based at least in part on their popularity on the video hosting site 100 . The popularity of a video is determined based at least in part on one or more of: video view count, video share count, favorite count (e.g., the number of times the video was marked as a favorite video), user ratings of the video, likes counts, dislike counts, and/or comment counts, etc. In one embodiment, the recommendation module 206 recommends videos with the highest video view count and/or highest favorite count to the user over a period of time.

In one embodiment, recommendation module 206 is communicatively coupled to user database 114 , video database 116 , activity monitor module 210 , feeds database 126 and presentation module 110 . In one embodiment, the recommendation module 206 performs one or more of the following steps: (1) retrieve the video viewing history of the first user and the first user's friends from the user database 114; Module 210 receives one or more campaigns; (3) receives one or more campaigns from a social feed retrieved from feed database 126; (4) sends video recommendations to presentation module 110 for presented to the first user; and (5) retrieve the video ID and metadata from the video database 116 for the video recommended for the first user. In one embodiment, recommendation module 206 receives one or more activities from activity monitor module 210 in real time. In another embodiment, the recommendation module 206 sends the video ID and metadata of the video recommended for the first user to the presentation module 110 for presentation to the first user.

The feed ranking module 208 is code and routines that rank social feeds to generate ranked feeds. For example, feed ranking module 208 receives a social feed including one or more campaigns from feed database 126, ranks the social feed based at least in part on the one or more campaigns, and forms a ranked feed as output.

In one embodiment, feed ranking module 208 is configured to rank the social feedback based at least in part on one or more scores associated with one or more campaigns. One or more activities are associated with one or more content posted by one or more publishers (i.e., users who uploaded a video on video hosting site 100 and/or third-party site 128 and posted the video on the site). Link multiple videos. The feed ranking module 208 receives one or more user inputs for one or more activities to include within the social feed. The feed ranking module 208 calculates a score for each activity. The feed ranking module 208 forms the sorted feed so that the first activity with the higher score is ranked before the second activity with the lower score in the sorted feed.

A score used to rank activity associated with videos posted by the publisher based at least in part on one or more of the following determinations: video view count, video share count, favorite count, user rating of the video, likes Count, Dislike Count, Comment Count, Age of Video, Video Tags, Is Video Popular, Is Video Featured, Total Publisher's Videos Viewed on Video Hosting Site 100, Publisher's Video Count (e.g., the number of videos posted by the publisher), the publisher's subscriber/friend count (e.g., the number of the publisher's subscribers/friends), the age of the publisher's account, and the ratio of any two of the above (e.g., Video view count vs video age, like count vs dislike count, etc). For example, if two videos have the same video age, a first activity has a higher score for a second activity associated with the first video with a higher video view count, and the second activity Associated with a second video having a lower video view count.

In one embodiment, feed ranking module 208 is communicatively coupled to feed database 126 , activity monitor module 210 , and presentation module 110 . In one embodiment, the feed ranking module 208: (1) receives social feeds from the feed database 126; (2) receives one or more activities from the activity monitor module 210; (3) sends the sorted feed to the presentation module 110 to present to the client 120; and (4) store the sorted feed in the feed database 126.

Activity monitor module 210 is code and routines for monitoring activity on video hosting site 100 and other third party sites 128 . For example, the activity monitor module 210 receives user input regarding activities performed on the video hosting site 100 or the third party site 128 . In one embodiment, the activity monitor module 210 receives user input regarding activities performed on the video hosting site 100 or the third party site 128 in real time. The activity monitor module 210 includes an on-site module 212 and an off-site module 214 .

Live module 212 is code and routines for monitoring live activity on video hosting site 100 . For example, the live module 212 is a daemon that monitors the video hosting site 100 and receives user input as to the activity being performed on the video hosting site 100 . In one embodiment, the live module 212 monitors the video hosting site 100 in real time. In one embodiment, the presence module 212 is communicatively coupled to the aggregation module 202 , the filter module 204 , the recommendation module 206 , the feed database 126 and the user database 114 . For example, live module 212 stores live events that are part of a social feed in feed database 126, stores video IDs of videos watched by users in user database 114, and sends messages to aggregation module 202, filter module 204, and recommendation module 206 for User input for live events.

Offsite module 214 is code and routines for monitoring offsite activity on third party site 128 . For example, the off-site module 214 is a daemon that monitors the third-party site 128 and receives user input if an activity is performed on the third-party site 128 . In one embodiment, the off-site module 214 monitors off-site activities of the user with the permission of the user. For example, a user establishes a connection between video hosting site 100 and third party site 128 and allows sharing of social activity information between video hosting site 100 and third party site 128 . The off-site module 214 monitors the third-party site 128 (optionally, in real time) and receives user input in the event of an activity being performed on the third-party site 128 . For example, the off-site module 214 receives user input if the user is viewing a video on the third-party site 128 . In one embodiment, off-site module 214 is communicatively coupled to aggregation module 202 , filter module 204 , recommendation module 206 , feed database 126 and user database 114 . For example, off-site module 214 sends user input for off-site activities to aggregation module 202, filter module 204, and recommendation module 206, stores off-site activities in feed database 126 as part of social feedback, and in user database 114 Video IDs of videos watched by users on third-party sites 128 are stored.

In one embodiment, the user feed includes one or more of the following: aggregated social activity information from the aggregation module 202, filtered social activity information from the filter module 204, video recommendations from the recommendation module 206, and from feed ranking Sequenced feed of module 208 . Sending the user feed to presentation module 110 causes presentation module 110 to generate a graphic associated with the user feed and provide the graphic to the user.

method

FIG. 3 is a flowchart 300 of a method of aggregating social activity information based at least in part on public users, according to one embodiment. The aggregation module 202 receives a first user input for a first activity (302). The first user input is associated with social activity information describing the first activity. The aggregation module 202 receives a second user input for a second activity (304). The second user input is associated with social activity information describing the second activity. In one embodiment, aggregation module 202 receives one or more inputs for the activities of steps 402 and 404 from activity monitor module 210 (optionally, these inputs are received in real time). In another embodiment, the aggregation module 202 receives input for the activities of steps 402 and 404 from social feedback retrieved from the feed database 126 .

The first and second user inputs have a common user providing the user input. The aggregation module 202 determines common users for the first and second user inputs (306). For example, the aggregation module 202 determines the unique username of the public user. The aggregation module 202 aggregates the social activity information input for the first and second users based at least in part on the common users ( 308 ) to form an aggregated social activity as an output. For example, if the first and second user inputs are associated with a user who uploaded two videos on the video hosting site 100 (e.g., the user is a user named "Alice"), the aggregation module 202 aggregates the user input for the user input The social activity information of is as "Alice has uploaded two new videos". The aggregation module 202 sends the aggregated social activity information to the presentation module 110 .

Presentation module 110 generates a graph based at least in part on the aggregated social activity information received from aggregation module 202 (310). The graph is associated with aggregated social activity information for the first and second user inputs. In one embodiment, the graph is configured to display aggregated social activity information to client 120 . Rendering module 110 sends the graphics to client 120 (312) for presentation to the user. For example, presentation module 110 sends the graphic to a web browser (not shown) of client 120, causing the web browser to display the aggregated social activity information to the client using the graphic. In one embodiment, if the user clicks on the aggregated social activity information shown in the graphic, all social activity information prior to aggregation is displayed to the user.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart 400 of a method of aggregating social activity information based at least in part on public video, according to one embodiment. The aggregation module 202 receives a first user input for a first activity (402). The first user input is associated with social activity information describing the first activity. The aggregation module 202 receives a second user input for a second activity (404). The second user input is associated with social activity information describing the second activity.

The first and second user inputs have a common video associated with the user inputs. The aggregation module 202 determines common videos for the first and second user inputs (406). For example, aggregation module 202 determines a video ID for a public video. The aggregation module 202 aggregates the social activity information for the first and second user inputs based at least in part on the public video (408) to form aggregated social activity information. For example, if the first and second user inputs are associated with a video (e.g., titled "Charlie Bit My Finger") having the first user input and the second user input, the aggregation module 202 aggregates social media for the user inputs. Activity information as "Video CharlieBit My Finger has two new comments", the first user input means that the first user posted the first comment on the video, and the second user input means that the second user posted the first comment on the video 2 comments. The aggregation module 202 sends the aggregated social activity information to the presentation module 110 .

Presentation module 110 generates a graph based at least in part on the aggregated social activity information received from aggregation module 202 (410). The graph is associated with aggregated social activity information for the first and second user inputs. In one embodiment, the graph is configured to display aggregated social activity information to client 120 . Rendering module 110 sends the graphics to client 120 (412) for presentation to the user. For example, presentation module 110 sends the graphics to the web browser of client 120, and the web browser uses the graphics to present social activity information to the user.

5 is a flowchart 500 of a method of aggregating social activity information based at least in part on public users and public videos, according to one embodiment. The aggregation module 202 receives two campaigns. The aggregation module 202 receives a first user input for a first activity (502). The first user input is associated with social activity information describing the first activity. The aggregation module 202 receives a second user input for a second activity (504). The second user input is associated with social activity information describing the second activity.

The first and second user inputs have a common video and a common user. The aggregation module 202 determines public videos and public users for the first and second user inputs. For example, the aggregation module 202 determines the video ID for the public video and the username for the public user. The aggregation module 202 classifies the two user inputs into one or two groups such that each group is associated with a classification. The aggregation module 202 aggregates the social activity information for the first and second user inputs based at least in part on the one or two categories associated with the one or two groups. In one embodiment, the aggregation module 202 determines one or two activities from the first and second activities to display to the client 120 based at least in part on the one or two classifications (506). Presentation module 110 generates a graph based at least in part on the aggregated social activity information received from aggregation module 202 (508). In one embodiment, the graph is configured to display aggregated social activity information to client 120 . The presentation module 110 sends the graphics to the client 120 (510) for presentation to the user. For example, presentation module 110 sends the graphic to the web browser of client 120, and the web browser uses the graphic to present the aggregated social activity information to the user.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 600 of a method of filtering social activity information, according to one embodiment. In one embodiment, the unique sources are users with unique usernames. In another embodiment, the unique source is a video with a unique video ID. The filter module 204 receives input defining display restrictions (602). For example, filter module 204 describes inputs that may be used to present social activity information into the limited display space of client 120 . In one embodiment, filter module 204 receives input from client 120 describing display restrictions. In another embodiment, filter module 204 receives input from an administrator of video hosting site 100 describing display restrictions. Here, step 602 is depicted by a rectangle formed by dashed lines to indicate that step 602 is an optional feature of the method. For example, in other embodiments, the display restrictions are set automatically by the filter module 204 without requiring input to define the display restrictions.

The filter module 204 receives one or more user inputs for the one or more campaigns (604). The one or more user inputs are associated with social activity information describing one or more activities. In one embodiment, the one or more activities are activities from social feeds retrieved from the feed database 126 . In another embodiment, the one or more activities are one or more activities monitored by the activity monitor module 210 .

The filter module 204 determines one or more first sources for the one or more user inputs (606). For example, in one embodiment, the first source is the user providing the user input and the filter module 204 determines one or more users as the one or more sources for the one or more user inputs. The filter module 204 determines one or more unique sources from the one or more first sources (608). In one embodiment, if the two or more user inputs have a common user, the filter module 204 determines the common user as the sole source of the two or more user inputs. Alternatively, the filter module 204 determines a different unique source for the two or more user inputs if the two or more user inputs are provided by different users. For example, if the filter module 204 receives three user inputs, where the first user input is provided by a first user and the second and third user inputs are provided by a second user, then the filter module 204 determines for the three user inputs Two unique sources. The first unique source is the first user and the second unique source is the second user.

The filter module 204 determines a portion of the social activity information associated with the unique source to be displayed on the client 120 and allocates (610) a portion of the display space to display the social activity information associated with the unique source a part of. For example, the filter module 204 determines a first portion of social activity information associated with a first user input provided by the user presented to the client 120 and allocates display space to display the first portion of the social activity information without presenting the first portion of the social activity information to the client Terminal 120 presents a second portion of social activity information associated with a second user input provided by the same user.

The filter module 204 determines whether the display constraints are satisfied (612). For example, filter module 204 determines whether any portion of the display space is still available for display. If the display constraints are not met, the filter module 204 proceeds to allocate a portion of the available display space (610) to display the portion of social activity information associated with another unique source. The portion of the social activity information that is selected to be displayed on a client 120 having an allocated display space is referred to as filtered social activity information. If the display constraints are met, filter module 204 sends the filtered social activity information to presentation module 110 for presentation to the user.

In one embodiment, display space is allocated so that each unique user has space for one social activity by that user. For example, referring to steps 610 and 612, assume there are four users (Alice, Brian, Claude, and Dan). Alice, Claude, and Dan each have 5 activities (a total of 15 activities across the three users). However, Brian himself has 10 activities. So, the total activity between the four users is 25 activities (15 plus 10 is 25). However, the display only has room for 10 activities. At step 610, the filter module 204 selects four activities, one from each of the unique users, so that Alice, Brian, Claude, and Dan are each represented in the displayed activities by one activity per person middle. At this point, there are a total of 21 activities to the left (25 minus 4 is 21) among users who have not yet been allocated display space, Alice, Claude, and Dan each have 4 activities which have not yet been allocated display space, and Brian has 9 activities which have not yet been allocated display space activities in space. Method 600 now moves to step 612 of determining whether display constraints are satisfied. In this example, the display limit is 10. Since 4 videos have been allocated space, space for 6 videos remains in the display limit and the method moves back to step 610 . At step 610, the filter module 204 again selects 4 activities, one for each of the four activities from each of the unique users, so that each of Alice, Brian, Claude, and Dan are represented in the display activities by one activity per person middle. At this point, there are a total of 17 activities to the left (21 minus 4 is 17) among users who have not yet been allocated display space, Alice, Claude, and Dan each have 3 activities that have not yet been allocated display space, and Brian has 8 activities that have not yet been allocated display space activities in space. Method 600 now moves again to step 612 where it is determined whether display constraints are met. Since 8 videos have now been allocated space, space for 2 videos remains in the display limit and the method moves back to step 610 . In step 610, the filter module 204 selects two campaigns, one from each of the unique users (without allocating any space for the remaining campaigns of the two remaining users). The process of selecting which two of the four unique users to allocate space is any method known in the art. In one embodiment, the two users are selected using a random number generator. In another embodiment, the two users are selected based, at least in part, on the alphabetical order of the names of the two users with preference given to usernames closer to the letter "A" or the letter "Z" (e.g., if "A" ” priority, select Alice and Brian to receive the display space). In yet another embodiment, the two users are selected based at least in part on the dates the two users created their accounts with the video hosting site 100 , with more senior users taking precedence. At this point, there are a total of 15 activities to the left (17 minus 2 is 15) among users who have not yet been allocated display space. The method moves to step 612 where it is determined whether display constraints are met. The method then moves to step 614 .

Presentation module 110 generates a graph based at least in part on the filtered social activity information received from filter module 204 (614). In one embodiment, the graph is configured to display filtered social activity information to client 120 . The presentation module 110 sends the graphics to the client 120 (616) for presentation to the user. For example, presentation module 110 sends the graphic to the web browser of client 120 and the web browser uses the graphic to present the filtered social activity information to the user.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart 700 of a method of providing video recommendations to users, according to one embodiment. The recommendation module 206 receives one or more user inputs for the one or more campaigns (702). The one or more user inputs are associated with one or more videos related to the one or more activities. In one embodiment, the one or more activities are one or more activities from social feeds retrieved from the feed database 126 . In another embodiment, the one or more activities are one or more activities monitored by the activity monitor module 210 . The recommendation module 206 determines a video recommendation based at least in part on the one or more activities (704).

Presentation module 110 generates a graph based at least in part on receiving the video recommendation from recommendation module 204 (706). In one embodiment, the graphic is configured to display video recommendations to client 120 . Presentation module 110 sends the graphic to client 120 (708) for presentation to the first user. In one embodiment, presentation module 110 sends the graphic to a web browser of client 120, and the web browser uses the graphic to present video recommendations to the first user. For example, the web browser presents a list of recommended videos to the first user, the list including video titles, video thumbnails, descriptions, video publishers, ratings, and the like.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart 800 of a method of ranking social feeds, according to one embodiment. The feed ranking module 208 receives one or more user inputs for one or more activities included within the social feed (802). In one embodiment, the social feeds are retrieved from the feed database 126 . The feed ranking module 208 ranks the social feeds based at least in part on the one or more user inputs for the one or more activities (804), and forms a ranked feed as an output. The feed ordering module 208 sends the ordered feeds to the presentation module 110 .

For example, the feed ranking module 208 ranks the social feeds based at least in part on the one or more scores of the one or more campaigns. One or more campaigns are associated with one or more videos posted by one or more publishers. The feed ranking module 208 calculates a score for each activity. A score for activity associated with a video posted by a publisher is determined based at least in part on one or more of: video view count, video share count, favorite count, user rating of the video, like count, dislike count, comment count, age of the video, video tags, whether the video is a popular video, whether the video is a featured video, the publisher's total videos viewed on video hosting sites 100, the publisher's video count, the publisher's Subscriber/friend count, publisher's account age, and ratio of any two of the above. The feed ranking module 208 forms a sorted feed such that a first activity with a higher score is ranked before a second activity with a lower score in the sorted feed.

Presentation module 110 generates a graph based at least in part on receiving the sorted feeds from feed ranking module 208 (806). In one embodiment, the graph is configured to display the sorted feed to the client 120 . The presentation module 110 sends the graphics to the client 120 (808) for presentation to the user. For example, presentation module 110 sends the graphics to a web browser of client 120, and the web browser uses the graphics to present the sorted feed to the user.

In one embodiment, the system 105 makes the homepage of the website generated by the video hosting website 100. First, people start answering the following question: "Today, what should I watch?" In other words, create a web page with a plethora of personalized video recommendations and a consumer experience that forces users to visit multiple times a day. In contrast to many social networking sites, one embodiment allows information in feeds based on activity on other sites. For example, a user of client 120 visits the home page and sees information related to his/her friend's activities while they watch an embedded video on another site (assuming, of course, that the friend has agreed to do so). Also, even if the user's friends are not activated, the user can ask to see "more" on his feed, which can be augmented with, for example, recommended videos and/or channels or, for example, his friends long ago (with their permission, of course), or for example from friends of friends (with their permission). Alternative embodiments do not require permission, or may leave the need for permission to the user.

In various embodiments, privacy concerns are taken into account when deciding what to put in a user feed. For example, a first user may request their friends not to receive recommendations based on the first user's activity.

In one embodiment, the system 105 takes into account some, all, or none of the following types of data (assuming that type of data remains for that embodiment, and assuming user privacy concerns have been addressed and considered): Subscriptions Recommend for you; recent activity from friends & subscriptions on video hosting sites 100; previously liked or watched videos on video hosting sites 100; third party site 128 video activity from friends; Google Buzz ^™ or similar social Review sites; videos that the user likes embedded on the third party site 128, videos emailed to the user; videos featured on the video hosting site 100 and/or on the third party site 128; spotlight videos on the video hosting site 100 the most popular video on the video hosting site 100 and/or third party site 128; the video that is currently being viewed on the video hosting site 100 and/or third party site 128; geographically related to the individual user of the client device 120 Video and/or news; group events and multiple events.

In one embodiment, the features provided by the system 105 include the following: persistent videos in the video feed; "tell me more" generation of new feed items; encouraging new channel subscriptions from the same or similar videos from the feed and/or or bundle; let me delete/remove anything from my feed; permanent filtering (e.g. no ratings, no favorites by fred, etc); low latency from other social networking sites; recommends unregistering registered users for better Videos; tag a video once you've seen it; add permanent stars to favorite videos; inline comments or conversations in feed items; users of client 120 can set priorities as to which items enter the feed; from social Pull videos from website; count of videos present; take all controls to allow user of client 120 to play all videos in his/her current feed; say "less like this" so that fewer videos similar to currently playing Videos are suggested to the user of client 120; carry a feed to watch when the user of client 120 clicks on any video in the feed; tell me when a subscribed video has crashed (e.g., "click here to watch from second user eight other videos"); temporary viewing filters (only of certain types, only from certain sources, etc); let me pin a video on my homepage until I explicitly remove it; click post to 3rd party social networking sites 128 (including clicks to like or favorite videos from webpages hosted by video hosting site 100 to 3rd party sites); same person crashing same action on same video (duplication exclusion between multiple users, e.g. Favorite video on video hosting site 100 becomes auto-shared on third party site 128); fetches my feed off-site.

FIG. 9 depicts a system 905 for organizing social information on a video site (eg, video hosting site 100 ), according to one embodiment. 10-26 depict GUIs 1005, 1105, 1205, 1305, 1405, 1505, 1605, 1705, 1805, 1905, 2005, 2105, generated by video hosting sites according to one or more embodiments of the invention. Screenshots of 2205, 2305, 2405, 2505, 2605. FIG. 27 depicts a system 2705 for organizing social information on a video site (eg, video hosting site 100 ), according to one embodiment. FIG. 28 depicts a system 2805 for organizing social information on a video site (eg, video hosting site 100 ), according to one embodiment.

29-30 depict screenshots of graphical user interfaces 2905, 3005 generated by video hosting site 100 in accordance with one or more embodiments. Specifically, FIG. 29 shows a first graphical user interface 2905. The first graphical user interface 2905 depicts an example of a non-aggregated feed. The non-aggregated feed shows three social activities by two different users "timmy" and "mrizzo1154987341". Element 2910 depicts activity by "mrizzo1154987341". Elements 2920 and 2930 depict activities performed by "timmy".

FIG. 30 depicts a second graphical user interface 3005. A second graphical user interface 3005 depicts an example of an aggregated feed. In particular, the second graphical user interface 3005 depicts an example of what the non-aggregated feed depicted in the first graphical user interface 2905 would look like if the non-aggregated feed was aggregated. Like the non-aggregated feed in Figure 29, the non-aggregated feed shows three social activities by two different users "timmy" and "mrizzo1154987341". Element 3010 depicts activity by "mrizzo1154987341". Element 3010 corresponds to element 2910 in FIG. 29 . Element 3020 Two activities by "timmy". Specifically, element 3020 depicts an aggregated version of the activity represented by elements 2920 and 2930 in FIG. 29 . For example, graphic 3030 in FIG. 30 corresponds to element 2920 in FIG. 29 , and graphic 3040 in FIG. 30 corresponds to element 2930 in FIG. 29 . Thus, FIG. 30 depicts an aggregated version of the non-aggregated feed in FIG. 29 . Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are other ways to depict the aggregated version of the non-aggregated feed in FIG. 29 .

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. The examples are not intended to be exhaustive and to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by the detailed description but by the claims of the application. The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the invention, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Likewise, the specific naming and division of modules, routines, features, attributes, methods, and other aspects are not mandatory or important, and the mechanisms or features thereof that implement the invention may have different names, divisions and/or Format. Furthermore, as would be apparent to those skilled in the art, the modules, routines, features, properties, methods and other aspects of the invention may be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination of the three. Furthermore, when a component of the invention is implemented as software (an example of which is a module), the component can be implemented as a separate program, as part of a larger program, as multiple separate programs, as a static or dynamic link library, implemented as a kernel loadable module, implemented as a device driver, and/or implemented in every and any other way now or in the future known to those skilled in the art of computer programming. Furthermore, the invention is not limited to implementation in any particular programming language, or for use with any particular operating system or environment. Accordingly, the disclosure of the present invention is intended to be illustrative, not limiting, of the scope of the present invention which is set forth in the following claims.

Claims (6)

1. the method that aggregated social activity information is provided on website, described method bag Include:

The social activity information of at least first user is received from least one third party source；

It is polymerized described social activity information to form aggregated social activity information；

Generate the feeding being associated with described aggregated social activity information to show, wherein said life One-tenth includes:

Determine one or more sole source for described aggregated social activity information, And

Process until meeting aobvious by one or more sole source being repeated selection Showing restriction, filter described aggregated social activity information, wherein said selection processes bag Include and select doings from each sole source and divide for selected doings Join display space until meeting described display and limiting；And

Described feeding display is sent to show to the second user to client.

Method the most according to claim 1, also includes:

The described social of the most described first user from least one third party source is asked to be lived Dynamic information.

Method the most according to claim 1, also includes:

The described social of the most described first user from least two third party source is asked to be lived Dynamic information.

Method the most according to claim 1, wherein polymerization procedure includes:

Determine the sequence ranking for described social activity information.

Method the most according to claim 1, also includes:

Ask the most described first user and the 3rd user from least one third party source Described social activity information.

6. the method that social activity information is provided on website, described method includes:

Ask to show for the feeding of the second user；

Social activity information based at least first user from least one user interface, from Server receives the feeding for described second user and shows；And

Show for described second user described feeding display, described feeding show include based on The aggregated society of doings from the most described first user at least one third party source Handing over action message, wherein said display includes:

Determine one or more sole source for described aggregated social activity information, And

Process until meeting aobvious by one or more sole source being repeated selection Show restriction, filter described aggregated social activity information；Wherein said selection processes bag Include and select doings from each sole source and divide for selected doings Join display space until meeting described display and limiting.